The Many Lies of Veronica Hawkins

LoveReading Says

Transporting glamorous Great Gatsby vibes to Hong Kong’s 21st-century high society, Kristina Pérez’s The Many Lies of Veronica Hawkins is an addictive, twisty thriller centred on the complex friendship between an incredibly wealthy old-money heiress and an American ex-pat wife. It’s a heady page-turner with psychological edge, and all the juicy allure of lives lived to decadent excess.

After arriving in Hong Kong freshly married to her childhood sweetheart, Martina finds herself at a loss. With no job and no friends, she’s enraptured when super-stylish, super-rich Veronica takes her under her sophisticated wing. The best-connected person in the city — and beyond — Veronica embodies old colonial Hong Kong. While “everyone wanted something from Veronica Hawkins”, to Martina “she was magical”. 

At the same time, friction mounts between Martina and her husband, and she finds herself in the throes of an identity crisis: “Who was I if I wasn’t Spencer’s wife?...I could only be who I was. Where I was. I was no longer New York Martina. Who would Hong Kong Martina turn out to be?” Thankfully, though, Veronica sweeps her into Hong Kong’s high society and gives her new energy, and new purpose: “I’m starting to think you’re my fairy godmother”.

But when Veronica vanishes over the side of a yacht at a party, no one is sure whether it was murder, suicide, or a tragic accident. The truth is revealed in time, after stacks of serpentine twists, and after Martina has experienced success as an author as a result of penning her account of their relationship.

Darkly addictive and explosive, thriller fans will not be able to tear themselves away from this.

Joanne Owen

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